Book Review - Ernest Hemingway by Anthony Burgess

It is hard to overstate Hemingway’s fame in literary circles. I knew the name ‘Ernest Hemingway’ long before I read a single book of his, perhaps because of his links to Africa, where he visited twice, once before and once after he became famous.

I recently picked up a copy of Anthony Burgess’s biography of Hemingway at my local library, and what a great find.

In this biography, Burgess describes Hemingway:

• The writer who jolted readers with a lean style and stoic heroes that mirrored his own nerve, even while he drank hard and filed fearless war reports.
• The myth who was self-made through big-game photos, bar fights, always angling to look like a soldier instead of a typist.
• The man who wrestled with impostor worries yet kept chasing raw experiences, from guerrilla raids to marlin fights, trusting each adventure to feed the next book.

What stuck with me, however, was Hemingway the adventurer. It is hard to imagine how difficult intercontinental travel was in the first half of the 20th century, or how brutal the front lines of the Spanish Civil War and both World Wars must have been. Yet Hemingway loved the action and could never stay away.

Alongside his daring trips and his influence on the American novel, Burgess also explores Hemingway’s failings: his alcoholism, his infidelity, and his jealousy of other writers. If I had to sum up his lifestyle with a modern phrase, I would call it toxic masculinity. Hemingway, with his passion for bullfighting, boxing, and cockfighting, could stand as a case study for today’s “manosphere.” Perhaps young men should pick up a Hemingway’ book instead of listening to another self-help podcast. From Hemingway, they might end up learning about themselves.